11 Female Founders To Watch Running Successful Mobile Companies

From IPOs to acquisitions, these women entrepreneurs launched and grew successful mobile startups.

By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

A few women pointed out that the upcoming MobileBeat 2012 conference has practically no women on the speaking page. Well, we think there are plenty of successful women running mobile startups.

Here are successful women entrepreneurs in the mobile space who have celebrated exits, managed major product launches and can speak to any number of mobile topics, from developing mobile apps to mobile advertising.

Smart mobile industry insights can be gleaned from the female founders of mobile companies below:

Cathy Edwards (Co-Founder & CTO, Chomp)
Mobile industry veteran Cathy Edwards co-founded app search engine Chomp, building the proprietary algorithm and launching on iPhone in 2010 and on Android in 2011. Chomp was acquired by Apple for $50M in February 2012. Follow her on Twitter at @cathye.

Cher Wang (Founder & Chairman, HTC)
The New York Times called her “one of the most powerful female executives in technology whom you have never heard of” – Cher Wang built HTC’s relationship with Google for the Android-based smartphone and the rest is history. Follow her company on Twitter at @htc.

Claire Boonstra (Co-Founder, Layar)
Co-founder Claire Boonstra has over 10 years of experience in mobile, new media and marketing. Her current venture is Layar, a mobile browser that allows you to find various items based upon augmented reality technology. Follow her on Twitter at @ClaireBoo.

Ingrid Lestiyo (Co-Founder & CEO, Mobsmith)
Former product manager Ingrid Lestiyo co-founded Mobsmith, a mobile ad-serving platform that offers both an agency side and a publisher side solution. Mobsmith was acquired by Rubicon Project for $10M in May 2012. Follow her startup on Twitter at @mobsmith.

Jennifer Lum (Co-Founder, Adelphic Mobile)
Mobile entrepreneur Jennifer Lum is co-founder of Adelphic Mobile, was a core team member of Quattro Wireless (acquired by Apple) and m-Qube (acquired by VeriSign) and invests in startups including Crashlytics, OnSwipe and Kinvey. Follow her on Twitter at @jenniferlum.

Pauline Alker (Co-Founder & CEO, A La Mobile)
Open Linux system platform for wireless handsets A La Mobile was co-founded by serial entrepreneur Pauline Alker. She served as chief executive at Amplify, Network Peripherals (IPOed) and Counterpoint Computers (acquired by Acer).

Petra Vorsteher (Co-Founder & EVP Strategic Alliances, Smaato)
Business development guru Petra Vorsteher co-founded mobile advertising startup Smaato. Prior to Smaato, she was a founding member of Intershop, helping grow the company to a publicly listed company with a market cap of $12B. Follow her startup on Twitter at @smaato.

Prerna Gupta (Co-Founder & CEO, Khush)Prerna Gupta co-founded Khush in 2009 to develop intelligent music apps and led her startup to profitability. Khush was acquired by Smule in December 2011 for a “eight-figure deal” in cash and stock. Follow her on Twitter at @prernagupta.

Sarah Allen (Co-Founder & CTO, Mightyverse; Founder, Blazing Cloud)
Early in her career, Sarah Allen co-founded the company that created Adobe After Effects. She is currently co-founder and CTO for mobile startup Mightyverse and runs Blazing Cloud, a product-centric mobile application consulting firm. Follow her on Twitter at @ultrasaurus.

Know more female founders of mobile/tech companies that should speak at MobileBeat or another mobile conference? Let us know in the comments below!

Angie Chang co-founded Women 2.0 in 2006. She currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of Women 2.0 and is working to mainstream women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. Previously, Angie held roles in product management and web UI design. In 2008, Angie launched Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners, asking that guys come as the “+1” for once. Angie holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.